Building a Successful Clinical Program in the Academic Medical Center

Abstract

Building a successful clinical program is perhaps one of the most important roles for a leader in the academic medical center. The evolving pressures of healthcare economics have forced modern academic medical centers to transition over the past several decades from “ivory tower” centers where clinical care took a backseat to the research and training mission to clinical referral centers. The most successful academic centers build clinical centers of excellence that are able to leverage the flow of patients through these clinical programs into academic productivity, publishing on clinical outcomes, care pathways, and clinical trials. Despite the importance of clinical programs to the modern academic medical center, there is almost no formal direction for academic physicians on how to build successful programs. This chapter will reflect on the author’s experience in building a clinical program of excellence highlighting the features felt to be most important with specific examples of how our team managed these issues.